Ontario Faces More Storms as Toronto Power Outages Linger

July 9 (Bloomberg) -- Southern Ontario may face more
thunderstorms bringing torrential downpours to cities including
Toronto, a day after Canada’s most populous city experienced its
heaviest one-day rainfall in 76 years.

A low pressure trough is expected to cross southern Ontario
early tomorrow, creating conditions favorable for thunderstorms
overnight, Environment Canada said in a special weather
statement issued at 2:48 p.m. today.

“Some of these storms could contain torrential downpours,
damaging winds, and large hail,” the government agency said.
The weather statement applies to cities from Windsor, near
Detroit, to the Niagara region near Buffalo, New York.

Toronto Hydro-Electric System Ltd. said that “current
instability of the electrical system” has prompted the utility
to begin rotating blackouts in the city, affecting 50,000
customers, according to a statement. Toronto Hydro is urging
customers to conserve energy by turning off lights and
appliances and raising air conditioner thermostats to 25 degrees
Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) or above.

An additional 20,000 customers in west Toronto are still
without electricity after an overnight storm flooded Hydro One’s
Manby power station, the utility said. Hydro One expects power
to be restored by tomorrow morning.

Yesterday’s storm brought almost 100 millimeters (3.9
inches) of rain to the city center and 126 millimeters to
Toronto’s Pearson airport, according to Environment Canada. The
storm knocked out power to 300,000 residents and flooded train
tracks, subway lines and roadways, delaying workers during the
evening commute home.

‘Rainiest Day’

“It now represents the single rainiest day ever at the
airport since records began back in 1937,” Peter Kimbell, a
meteorologist with Environment Canada, said by phone from
Ottawa. “We had one area of thunderstorms moving southward and
another area of thunderstorms moving eastward, and they
basically merged over Toronto, and the combination was
particularly intense.”

GO Transit, the city’s commuter train service, said it’s
now operating on all seven train lines and buses across its
system, though there are some train delays and cancellations as
the city continues its cleanup. GO Transit had flooding on the
tracks of its Richmond Hill line yesterday, trapping a
northbound train and stranding passengers inside while water
poured into the carriages.

One of those stranded in the train, Thornhill resident
Angela Sarino, recalled in a phone interview today how she
watched as vehicles on a nearby road became submerged, with
commuters getting anxious during the ordeal.

‘Rising Water’

“As the water was rising and coming into the train, that’s
when you start to think this is pretty serious,” the 40-year-old Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce employee said. “You see
this water rising and it’s rising very fast. To sit there and
within half an hour see a car completely submerged, you’re
thinking ‘is this rain ever going to stop?’”

Authorities used Zodiac inflatable boats to help evacuate
the commuters from the powerless, flooded train in an operation
that ended early in the morning.

“I know that there were a lot of emergencies last night,
but it was pretty disheartening to know you’re about 1,500
people on the train and you had two Zodiacs that were out there
helping us,” said Sarino, who got home around 1 a.m.

Subway service between Kipling and Jane stations on the
Bloor-Danforth line was suspended as crews worked to drain a
flooded substation and return power to that section of track,
according to Toronto Transit Commission spokeswoman Milly
Bernal. All other subway services are operating. “It’s a little
slower than usual between Dundas West and Jane stations,”
Bernal said in a telephone interview.

Paul Yeung, senior manager at Royal Bank of Canada, left
his downtown office yesterday at 5 p.m., was stuck in a train in
a tunnel for 55 minutes and didn’t arrive home until around 9:30
p.m. after having to walk part of the way.

“It was a pretty hairy ride home, but it could have been
worse,” Yeung, 39, said in a telephone interview. “On the
positive side I got to meet a couple really nice people.”